Heartsrings
by Cerulean Leader
Summary: "I believe you and Kid Flash may have something known as a 'soul-bond'. This seemed to have developed from his reaction to your death in that exercise, and seeing as this amplified my niece's emotions, she may have projected her telepathy accidentally, causing something to tear off as a side-effect." / Post Endgame. Spitfire, Chalant. Fix-it fic. For Beautiful-Dark. COMPLETE.
1. Pull

**Heartstrings: Pull**

_**by Cerulean Leader**_

_****__****__****__**ø,,ø¤º°°º¤ø,**__**Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ**__**,**__**ø¤º°°º¤ø**__**,,**__**ø**_

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)**

**************Rating: T.**

**************Genres: Romance, Friendship, Family, Drama and Angst.**

**************Cover: None at the moment.**

**************Warnings: A bit of language, perhaps untrue scientific facts.**

**************Type: Multi-chapter.**

**************Inspiration: I used to read a lot of Harry Potter soul-bond fics, and they came to mind the other day when I was doing a HP movie marathon. I thought it would be a good idea to write a fix-it fic with this in it. **

**************Dedication: For Beautiful-Dark, who is absolutely awesome and who deserves this one. Here you go, chica. :D Enjoy, Zatanna. :P**

**************Summary: "I believe you and Kid Flash may have something known as a 'soul-bond'. This seemed to have developed from his reaction to your death in that exercise, and seeing as this amplified my niece's emotions, she may have projected her telepathy accidentally, causing something to tear off as a side-effect."**

**************Pairings: [mainly] Spitfire, Supermartian, Chalant, others may be included later.**

* * *

The memorial service had to be the hardest thing, what, with seeing all of the people who were apart of Wally's life mourning the goofy speedster. Rudy and Mary had insisted that she sit up the front with them, because they considered her family. As the love of Wally's life, also, people expected her to a reading. She had never been good at oral presentations, and having to speak _about _the person who she loved more than anything that was dead just made it all the more harder.

Her words had been brief, before silent sobs, heaving sighs and the heaving of her shoulders took over. She had run off the podium, straight towards her friends. Kaldur placed a hand on her shoulder before shuffling towards the podium and finishing off the speech for her. Conner had pulled her into a hug, and she had cried into his shoulder for the rest of the ceremony, with Megan stroking her blonde hair. Dick had shown up, but had refused to talk to anyone, only his best friend's parents before the emotion in his eyes were hidden once again by aviators. Then he mysteriously disappeared.

After that experience, Artemis had finally taken her father's advice, the teachings he had practically drilled into her and Jade's head at such young ages, that emotions were a sign of weakness. Sure, she acted like everything was okay, but she would not _dare _delve into anything personal. She dove into the work college provided for her, and always had her head in the game when it came to missions. Though, she had messed up a few times, like the one only a couple of days before when Kaldur had paired her up with Bart, Tim, La'gaan and Conner, reminding her of their younger days.

The mission was supposed to be simple; grab a few samples of the drink LexCorp was producing that seemed to hold similar traces of the chemicals inside the Reach drink, and the guards on duty had begun shooting at them with laser guns when La'gaan had set off an intruder alert alarm. While Bart had his back turned while he sent a series of punches and jokes towards a guard near him, one shot at him, but Artemis, on impulse, pushed him out of the way because, for a brief moment, she thought it was Wally.

People said that she was still in denial; she blamed it on her instincts. Sure, she thought it was Wally, but she really could not lose another important person in her life. She would not be able to cope with that.

Life went about as though nothing happened; she went to college, though preferred to hang out and sit alone because of the sympathetic glances and the condolences she was receiving from her professors and fellow students, missions with the team continued, though she had increasingly regular visits from Zatanna, Oliver and Dinah. She loved their company, but sometimes having her best friend and the people she looked as parents was hard. She would rather curl up on the couch with Brucely beside her while she snuggled into the dog's soft fur with a sweatshirt of Wally's curling over her form.

She could never stop thinking about him. His yells of pain that she could only imagine, the expression he wore before he just faded into nothingness, the disbelief that Bart and Barry were wearing like it was their heart on the sleeve…

"_He loved you."_

Artemis sobbed as she imagined Wally whispering sweet nothings before she fell asleep, bringing a hand to cover her face in shame. Gone was the warrior, only to be replaced with someone she didn't know, even more so than when she had stared at the reflection of herself while infiltrating Black Manta's organisation with Kaldur.

'_Baywatch…' _she thought miserably, her heart aching in her chest.

Then she heard it.

A gasp, one that sounded terribly familiar, plucked at her already fragile heartstrings. It was a sharp intake of breath, but the rolling sound behind it could be heard as well, within the hollow confines of a space she now imagined herself in. Her eyes were closed, and behind her lids, she saw herself just standing there, looking around warily at the complete black nothingness.

A blur began to speed before her, taking the form of a man with a stream of gold following him as he moved around her. _'A-Artemis!' _Now that she looked carefully, she could see the facial features that were glowing white. On his chest, was the Flash insignia, but instead of its usual yellow and white, it was showing up in red. _'I can't stop… Something is making me run like this!'_

'_Wally!' _she imagined herself yelling. Was this real? No, it couldn't be. Wally had vanished into thin air, he was dead, surely!

'_Babe, I'm lost but I'm trying to find you, please stay where you are! I'll never leave you both again, just wait for me!'_

Suddenly, she felt a jolt in her chest and her eyes snapped open. With a deep gulp of air, she sat up with a start, cold sweat on her body. "No!"

Brucely whimpered in the corner of the room, looking up at his owner. "I'm alright, baby, I promise." She cooed. She was so confused. "I must be going insane, though." She threw back the covers and shivered, her body still covered in cold moisture, and the fact that she hadn't turned the heater on before bed made goose bumps appear on her olive skin. Grabbing a glass and the jug of water in the fridge, she allowed the door to slam shut while she poured the drink and brought it to her lips.

"I guess I'm just missing him…"

* * *

"I think I'm pregnant."

Zatanna almost spat out her coffee but managed to swallow it down in time. The magician had been called by the archer, who had sounded extremely distressed on the phone. She coughed awkwardly, and her bright blue eyes were widened in shock. She blinked a few times before talking. "What?"

"There might be a _baby _inside of me." Artemis repeated, looking so forlorn that it did not suit a person that young. "I…" she paused, closing her eyes and licking her lips that had dried up. "I'm not sure, but I think Wally is alive as well. I hope so, because that asshole should be helping me; I can't handle Lian on my own and now I might have to handle our child alone?" she questioned, laughing slightly, though her voice broke a couple of times during that sentence.

"Have you taken a pregnancy test?"

"Yeah, I took one last night after…"

"What happened last night?"

The blonde swallowed. "I… I saw him in my head, and he was glowing, I guess? He didn't look like himself and when he was talking, his voice was echoing. He kept saying how he was trying to find me, and to wait for him or something…"

Zatanna rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It sounds like a hallucination. Your unconscious mind could still be in denial over Wally's death, and so is coming up with a solution to help make you feel better." She told her friend bluntly. "Maybe we should talk to M'gann or the Flash about this."

"And what exactly are they going to do, Zatanna? Both of them will start freaking out. Barry will think I'm going nuts and you know exactly how Wally's family will react when they find out. M'gann will take it as something else, which is why I came to you."

"You need to tell _someone_." The magician responded, slinking slightly back. "I'm not the best choice…"

Artemis grabbed her friend's hand. "You are my best friend, and you've been really supportive of me, which is why I've told you first." She said with a smile.

* * *

After the first ultrasound to confirm that she was indeed pregnant with Wally's baby, the first people she told was Rudy and Mary. The two parents of Wally were extremely shocked to hear that they were going to be grandparents at such a young age, but were completely understanding and had full intentions of being involved in their grandchild's life. She didn't dare mention her dream from a few weeks back, but had informed Batman of it.

He had not seem surprised by this, and if possible, it seemed that his frown had only deepened upon hearing the news. He nodded at her, then motioned for Artemis to follow. "Nightwing and I have noticed that there is possibility of Kid Flash being alive." he explained as they walked towards the screening room. "The Flash said that his body just _faded away_, but that is impossible. We believe that he may have been transported to another dimension, according to the string theory, or his molecules could have dispersed, and are just perhaps floating around. We have done a lot of research, even setting up a private team to help us expand on it."

Artemis' jaw dropped in surprise, pressing a hand to her stomach in surprise. Batman's eyes, behind his cowl, followed her motion, before a slight smile replaced the grim line. "In the mean time, I suggest you explain to Martian Manhunter and the Flash what has been going on. Also, congratulations."

* * *

"Ah, Tigress, I could sense you approaching." Martian Manhunter said with a kind smile. He was sitting in the cafeteria, holding a gardening magazine. "How may I be of service to you this evening?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, J'onn, but I need to ask for a favour." she answered, slipping into the opposing bench across from the Martian powerhouse. She placed her elbows on the table and looked up at him almost nervously, biting her lip. "Batman told me to inform you of what's been going on and I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell M'gann until I'm ready."

He looked at her curiously. "Please, begin with the tale."

And so, she spilt everything. He was a lot more shocked than Batman was, obviously, due to the fact that he and a lot of the other members of the League and the Team were convinced that the former sidekick of the Flash was dead. His gaze was left directed at the table as he mulled over the information he had just received, trying to come up with something to say to the archer before him or even come up with an explanation for the Wally had appeared to her.

"The only thing that I am able to think of is that it could be a side-effect from that telepathic training exercise from those years ago." he stated carefully, now looking up at her. Artemis looked extremely confused, understandably.

"A mental connection? But..."

Martian Manhunter looked at her solemnly. "Tigress, it is uncommon to here, but-"

"I need you to have a look at the dream yourself." Artemis stated, closing her eyes as her shoulders seemed to tighten in remorse. He nodded, and motioned for her to grab his hands. She did so, and watched as his eyes began to glow while his mind penetrated hers. Soon, she was watching the scene all over again.

**_'A-Artemis! I can't stop... Something is making me run like this!'_**

She gazed on with Martian Manhunter standing beside her as the defined muscles of Wally's body were sheered over in a bright, electrifying light. Her stare didn't falter, lingering only on her supposedly dead boyfriend, before she noticed that the other version of herself had placed a hand on her stomach, igniting the instinct to hold the bump on her own torso. Martian Manhunter glanced at her, his expression never changing.

_'You are with child?'_

She hesitated before nodding.

Artemis saw him look away from her and back to the scene before them, where she was standing alone by herself in the thick of the darkness.

The Watchtower cafeteria eventually faded back into existence and she opened her eyes to J'onn waiting patiently for her to speak. "Tigress?" he said gently. She was staring down at her hands, unsure of what to say. "I believe you and Kid Flash may have something known as a 'soul-bond'. This seemed to have developed from his reaction to your death in that exercise, and seeing as this amplified my niece's emotions, she may have projected her telepathy accidentally, causing something to tear off as a side-effect."

Her stormy eyes were widened, and her hands had moved to clutch her head while she stared at the alien in shock. "But that's impossible, and how can Wally be contacting me? He's supposed to be _dead!"_

"I cannot explain the results of this, Artemis."

She was shocked at the use of her real name.

"Perhaps you should confide in Batman?"

"I already have." she replied. "I don't know what to do now."

* * *

_**"What do I do?"** _a voice asked tiredly. He could not even recognise himself at this point in time. He glanced down at his hands, his chest tightening up as he struggled to breathe. _**"I can't continue to run... But, I need to find Artemis...!"**_As he said her name, his pace quickened with bolts of lightening and currents of blue, white and gold whizzing past him. Not being able to recognise where he was at all or even pick up figments of what was around him was really infuriating him.

_**"A...**** A-ARTEMIS!"** _he screamed.

He could hear her gasp, reminding him of when he managed to contact the beautiful blonde a few nights ago. Wisps of smoke seemed to float in, and they seemed to blue because of the hues around him. They slowly took the form of Artemis, with her widened eyes staring up into his own in shock. _**"Wally!"** _she shrieked in surprise, leaving one arm around his neck and placing the other on her lower abdomen. His own expression was a surprised one, with his mouth agape as he gazed at her in shock.

He was still running, not slowing down at all but he did not speed up at all either.

Tears were welling up in her eyes, as they began to fall. _**"Tell me I'm hallucinating... You're not supposed to be real..."**_

_**"Babe, what are you doing?! Of course I am real, but why are you here?! How are you here?!"**_

With how loud his voice was at that very moment, his words were repeating multiple times in the distance. Artemis' hair was flying everywhere, even though it was in a secure ponytail, as Wally ran them to who-knows-where. He seemed to have no final destination. She pressed her face into his neck while his breath hitched. A strangled cry left his mouth as his vision was interrupted by a blinding light.

Artemis' hard sobs as she cried into Conner's shoulder at his own funeral, Barry and Bart's eyes that were wide as saucers as he began to fade away, Dick's choice to take a leave of absence, and everything mournful that had happened since his "death" that seemed to draw back to him flashed into his mind.

_**"What have I done...?"**_

_**"No!"**_Artemis screamed as Wally eventually skidded to a halt, and her body began to leave the realm. _**"No, Wally!"** _she shouted as she tried to cling onto him as much as she could, but to no avail.

* * *

**A/N: More was going to be included in the first chapter, but I'm not in the mood to continue it right now, so, hopefully the next chapter will be longer. It's not planned out to be too long, please remember that. Leave a review, also, if possible, as they are greatly appreciated. I love reading the comments because they encourage me to continue, hold great advice, or just make me feel really giddy. :D**

**Word Count: 2,630**

**~CL**


	2. Strain

**Heartstrings: Strain**

_**by Cerulean Leader**_

_**For Beautiful-Dark**_

_****__****__****__**ø,,ø¤º°°º¤ø,**__**Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ**__**,**__**ø¤º°°º¤ø**__**,,**__**ø**_

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)**

**************NOTE: For more information, see Chapter 1.**

* * *

Every time she went to sleep, she would have these visions of Wally, and the same thing would happen each time. Brucely would whimper when she would wake up with a start and then she would get up to call Batman or Zatanna on what had happened that time through her almost hysterical sobs.

She tugged on Wally's old Stanford jersey she had worn to bed that night so that the pajama shorts she was wearing were only just peeking out the bottom and reached for her mobile which was charging on the bench. Brucely had followed her, and was now nuzzling her leg with his face. She ignored him and then dialled Zatanna's number, trying to catch her breath at the same time. Hastily, she wiped her tear streaks away and waited as the phone clicked.

"…_Hello?" _asked Zatanna tiredly. Artemis could hear the magician moving around, shuffling the sheets about. _"Artemis?"_

The archer walked towards the couch with Brucely following her. "Zee, it happened again." She said, and Zatanna sighed in response.

"_I'll be there soon."_

About twenty minutes later, Zatanna had used the zeta beams to transport herself to Palo Alto, where her best friend was waiting inside, staring down at her hands. Her pitbull was on the couch beside her, his head resting in her lap, while she stroked his head comfortingly. The black haired hero unlocked the door with the spare key Artemis had given her and let herself inside and almost immediately headed for the troubled girl after closing the door.

"'Mis, are you alright?" she asked, sitting on the couch beside her and placing an arm across the blonde's shoulders.

The girl in question sniffled, trying to avoid crying. "He's alive, I know he is, I just don't know where he is. He keeps appearing to me whenever I close my eyes to sleep, and then there's always a dramatic ending to it." Explained Artemis. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Have you spoken to Dick lately?"

"It's been hard to get a hold of him, but I've been in touch with him." Zatanna answered, unable to keep the small smile that was gracing her lips. Artemis would have laughed under normal circumstances, but she just shook her head.

"Are you two sleeping together again?"

Her best friend blanched at the question that reminded her so much of Wally whenever he was caught off-guard, but Zatanna managed to regain her composure soon after. "Not exactly, I have no idea what _is _going on, exactly. I'd like to try again, but…" she paused, and then glanced at Artemis. "How are you holding up? Are you alright, now?"

"I guess, I just don't know how I'm supposed to be handling this situation. All we're really going is hunches and theories, and nothing is confirmed yet. I mean, what if he actually is dead and this is just some sort of trick that my mind is playing?"

"J'onn confirmed it himself that the bond was indeed real. Look at the facts, Artemis, he's alive."

* * *

Dick had taken some time alone when his adoptive father had broken the news to him of the visions Artemis had strangely enough been having. It had taken a few days to get his head around the fact that there was proof that his best friend was actually _alive_, but with everything else that had been going on his life, it was _over_whelming him.

He stared at the holographic screen in the Batcave beside Barbara, who had decided to help him, and the redhead had been a good confidante to choose and she hadn't burst into tears at the news. He honestly was glad he had her help, because he could not do it without her. As extremely close friends who knew practically everything about each other, it was good to know that she had his back and was there to support him.

"So, are you ever going to tell me about what happened between you and Zatanna the other night?" she asked slyly, as she continued to type onto the blue-hued keyboard.

He just shrugged, his mouth still in a grim line, though it seemed to deepen at the mention of the beautiful Italian girl. "Nothing to tell, we just talked."

"A bit of lip-locking too, I believe?" she laughed, which Dick just raised an eyebrow at her in question. "C'mon, like she's really going to keep things from her main group of girls. Your mind must be racing with everything that's going, especially with Artemis being pregnant as well—"

"She's what?" Dick asked in surprise, his cobalt eyes widening. "Did she only just find out?"

Barbara blinked at his questions and then nodded. "Yeah, a few weeks ago. Though, I'm not even supposed to know. Zatanna's been telling me what's going on with her so that we can get a few more leads on where Wally is exactly." she explained. "Have you heard anything from Barry or Jay?"

"According to the both of them, they draw their powers from an energy field, but they aren't sure if it's an actual dimension or plane on its own or not." the former sidekick of Batman responded, shifting his eyes once again across the holographic screen. He was disappointed in the news, understandably enough, because it did not explain whether their theories were correct; only further confirming them slightly.

His companion sighed, and just shrugged. "We'll find something eventually, don't worry."

* * *

Roy looked at his foster father with a confused expression, his muscled arms crossed over his chest. The two members of Team Arrow were standing in front of a girl who looked strangely familiar to Oliver, wearing a brightly coloured costume decorated with gem stones and unnecessary contributing factors. She was also holding a crimson red, curvaceous compound bow.

She had a brilliant smile on her face, and was sporting an outfit that consisted of a gold masquerade mask, a diadem encrusted with gemstones on the top of her honey blonde hair, two fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows, one gold and the other red with adjustable ties, knee-high white boots with a slight heel, earrings fashioned to look like arrow targets, a white crop top with a gold and red gemstone and red flames that seemed to be real, a white mini-skirt with a black belt to hold it up, a red quiver with a thick strap that went across her body and a white cape with gold trimmings that was worn towards her left shoulder, clipped with a shoulder plate.

"It's really you!" she said excitedly, pressing her hands to her face in excitement. "Is Tigress here too? It would be so cool if I got to meet her!"

Roy and Oliver looked at each other in surprise. "You know of Tigress?"

Her blue eyes lit up at the sound of Roy's voice. "Yeah, she saved my dad one time."

Something clicked in Oliver's head. "I remember you. You're the little girl whose dad was almost assassinated by Black Spider about five or six years ago." he said, and she nodded, holding out her hand in greeting.

"It's an honour to meet you, Green Arrow, I'm Arrowette. I was honestly hoping to run into Tigress to ask her to take me on as apprentice ever since she came back from the dead..." she babbled, and Roy tuned her out. As if Artemis hadn't gotten enough on her plate at the moment, and now a fan girl wanted to become her sidekick?

She suddenly paused, and placed her hands behind her back. "I can use a bow and everything, my mother taught me. I'm no expert or anything, but I've been a huge fan of the archer heroes ever since my dad was rescued."

"...you want to be trained by Tigress?" Oliver said, almost disbelievingly. Roy was shaking his head subtly, thinking of his sister-in-law, but his foster father was biting his lip, contemplating whether or not to accept. "Look, kid, I'm not sure if this will sit right with her, but I will talk to her for you; you might even get to meet her sooner or later. She's got a lot on her plate right now-"

"-because of Kid Flash? I'm sorry to hear." she interrupted sadly. "But isn't this is a good thing to help get her mind off it?"

Roy rolled his eyes. "Look, Arrowette, was it? Your costume isn't exactly the most plausible, and Tigress doesn't need some kid chasing after her. She needs her space." he explained harshly. He was blunt, which made Oliver glare at the former Speedy. "Besides, can you even use that bow?"

* * *

Conner volunteered to be the one to accompany Artemis to meet up with Oliver a few days after he had contacted her to meet him in Star City. She had accepted his offer without hesitation because she had missed her half-Kryptonian friend, as the two had barely interacted after she had returned from her undercover mission and with Wally's disappearance and just being generally busy, they hardly had the chance to talk.

It was also the time he found that she was pregnant with Wally's baby when he heard two heartbeats because of his enhanced hearing. "You're pregnant?" he asked suddenly, which would make any other person jump in surprise, but Artemis merely nodded as the two continued to walk to one of the secret warehouses Oliver had stocked with spare uniforms and equipment as well as a safety hangar. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of being a (kind of) uncle towards the little tucker, who was the second child to be born in the midst of original team members, the first being Amistad, Raquel's son with an unknown father, though they all had a sneaky suspicion that it was actually Kaldur who had fathered the child but hadn't been told as the adorable little boy had mint green eyes.

Artemis stopped and waited patiently as a scanner removed itself from the confines of the brick wall, and passed a blue light over her form, then Conner's.

_**"Tigress, B-07." **_

_**"Superboy, B-04."**_

After this, the brick wall slid to one side slowly, with cement slowly falling like sand, and they stepped inside only to be greeted by Roy who was stuck against a practice target with arrows attaching his shirt to the hard board. "She can use a bow." was all he said as an explanation, before gesturing to Arrowette on the opposing side of the room, who was grinning triumphantly as she lowered her weapon. She turned her attention to the newcomers, only to gasp and quickly run over and squeeze the older blonde in a hug.

"It's really you!"

They were both wearing their uniforms, but the shock was clearly evident on Artemis' face behind her stylised mask. "Uh..."

Oliver appeared randomly, beginning to pry the arrows away from Roy so that he could move around once more. "Tigress, I would like to introduce you to Arrowette." he said, with an encouraging smile at the woman he saw as his daughter. "She would like to be trained properly and might be joining the Team."

Arrowette finally let go, and held out her hand in greeting. "It's nice to meet you officially. I've been a huge fan of you and Green Arrow ever since you saved my dad five years ago from Black Spider." she explained excitedly, her blue eyes lit up cheerfully. "I've been dying to meet you for ages!"

"It's nice to meet you too, Arrowette," Artemis responded hesitantly. "But, GA, what does this have to do with me?"

Conner stood back and eyed the girl. She seemed decent enough, and it took a lot to even think about pinning Roy Harper to a target. She was a lot like Artemis in a way, except for the less practical uniform. "Well, she approached Red Arrow and I a few nights ago while we were on patrol and would like a mentor." Oliver began, stroking the goatie on his chin. "We both thought that it would be a good idea to help get your mind off..."

Artemis glanced at the girl beside her. "You want _me _to be your mentor? I don't even use my bow anymore."

"I think it's a good idea, Tigress." Conner interrupted, sending his friend an encouraging smile. "At least for a few months before we make you take some time off. It also may be a good idea to grab your bow. It's collapsible, right?"

* * *

He had finally been allowed to stop. The whistling sound that had permanently been in his ear had been replaced with gentle wind and a slight ringing, and the colours that had been previously whizzing past him were now slowly forming into glowing smoke clouds of gold, silver an blue.

_**"W-Where am I?"**_ he asked himself loudly as he looked around, his voice echoing. His uniform was still out of whack, and as he looked down as his hands. Wally wasn't able to see his skin, with his odd looking gloves covering his skin, before turning around and observing the seemingly infinite space. _**"What is this place?"**_ His questions were answered when a voice interrupted him.

_**"Young Wally West,"** _said the voice. _**"You are inside the Speed Force."**_

Soon, a white form of a man appeared before Wally, making the man jump in surprise and let out an almost girly scream. _**"Whoa, man, you scared me! So, how exactly do I get out of here? I have a family I need to get back too."**_he responded happily, a grin forming on his face. His mind then drifted to Artemis, holding her stomach tenderly with a large smile on her face.

_**"You are unable too."**_

_**"What?"**_

The person who stood before Wally didn't look solemn at all, maybe because his eye sockets and his mouth looked to be gold which made his facial expression look blank. _**"I'm sorry to inform you of this, young speedster, but I can, however, grant you this."**_The person rose their hand, and did a sweeping motion gracefully, only to reveal what appeared to be a deformed window into another world, showing four screens of people he knew very well.

One had his parents; both his mother and his father were in his old bedroom that was still decorated the way it had been when he was sixteen, albeit a lot cleaner. His mother appeared to be crying while holding a picture of him with his dad hugging her close to his chest while he grieved over his lost son. It had been a couple of weeks since the incident in the arctic, by the look of the calendar hanging next to his old desk, but his parents were still mourning him.

The next one showed Dick, Barbara, Bruce and Barry in the Batcave while they each stared up at the large computer screen. They all looked dejected, especially his best friend and uncle by this point. His strained his eyes to see what they were looking at, and it appeared to be a scan of Barry while he was running along with a tape of Wally, Barry and Bart trying to stop the device from destroying the Earth from a few weeks back, which must have been recorded from the bio-ship. It looked strangely, like an x-ray, and there was a strange aura surrounding the speedsters in each frame, surrounding them in yellow. He looked on in confusion, before glancing at the next screen.

This one showed the Team at the Watchtower. He smiled when he saw Bart wearing a Kid Flash uniform, but then noticed that all of the occupants were staring up at a holographic statue of him. He saw Tim and Cassie's intertwined fingers, Jaime's hand on Bart's shoulder in support, M'gann hugging Gar with Raquel standing beside her, holding Amistad. Also, Kaldur was right at the back, looking extremely guilty, almost like he was blaming himself. Artemis and Conner were absent, but he knew where they were by the last frame.

This is the one that made his heart break the most.

It appeared that she was in Star City with Conner, a hand over her middle while she sat in a corner of what appeared to be a hangar with Roy and Oliver near them. Conner then drew his friend into a hug. A girl, who looked about thirteen or fourteen, looked slightly uncomfortable but sympathetic. He watched as Artemis pulled away from the half-Kryptonian and pulled off her mask to reveal her face. She had bags under her stormy eyes, which was probably from when she had appeared to him a few times, and a grim line was gracing her lips instead of the usual smirk (with a hint of affection) that she usually had for him.

_"Before I accept, I need to know your name, and you need to do this on _**_my_**_terms, because I'm not losing another person. Yes, I've lost the love of my life, I'm currently pregnant with _**_his_**_ baby__, but I'm not a delicate flower, so do not pay attention to that episode." _she said, gesturing to the corner, suddenly back to her (seemingly) normal self.

Wally looked away, his eyes closed. He was causing her this pain.

_**"I need to get back there now. She needs me."**_

* * *

She was trying to be strong for Artemis; the girl needed more support that anyone right now, especially now that she was pregnant. She felt selfish for letting her own feelings get in the way of being a good friend, but she was only human. She couldn't exactly help it.

Cassie had not been the only one to realise that life was too short to not take any chances. She had as well. Even though they were only supposed to be friends with the occasional kiss on each other's birthday as a present, she was falling in love with the former Robin all over again. Zatanna sighed, running a gloved hand through her dark hair as her thoughts drifted from guilt over too the expert hacker.

He was, at the moment, purely focused on getting his best friend back and she completely understood that, but it was like he didn't want to accept her support. She had gone to visit him a few nights ago, with hopes of telling him how she felt and that he reciprocated, but after a few exchanges of words, he had slammed his mouth onto hers before telling her to leave.

Not wanting to bother Artemis, she had confided with Barbara who had rolled her eyes at Dick's behaviour, calling him an idiot.

Zatanna agreed, he was an idiot.

* * *

**A/N: So, it's Beautiful-Dark's birthday soon, so this chapter is for then. Look, I even made it as long as I could for you! :D AND some Chalant. I find it quite odd actually writing this pairing, as my favourite pairing for Dick is actually him and Raven from Teen Titans, but I do like Dick x Zatanna. :) I hope you all enjoyed it. :D**

**Thank you to all who reviewed for all your kind words. The feedback has made me really giddy. :D This is actually the most amount of reviews I've gotten on the first chapter, so I'm really glad it gained some attention. Anyway, be on the lookout for Chapter 3. :)**

**Also, thanks to all the silent readers, to the people who have put it on their favourites list and to the people who have put it on their alert list. :) The support is greatly appreciated.**

**Word Count: 3,204**

**~CL**


	3. Break

**Heartstrings: Break**

_**by Cerulean Leader**_

_**For Beautiful-Dark**_

_****__****__****__**ø,,ø¤º°°º¤ø,**__**Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ**__**,**__**ø¤º°°º¤ø**__**,,**__**ø**_

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)**

**************NOTE: For more information, see Chapter 1.**

* * *

"_**She **__**needs**__** me." **_Wally hissed through clenched teeth,

his eyes narrowed at the shining form before his own. _**"She's pregnant, for God's sake, which means that I'll be a father, and I don't want her go through it alone! I **__**love**__** her!"**_ He was yelling now, understandably, as the person just stood there, patiently waiting for the speedster to stop.

"_**Young speedster, you sacrificed yourself, and as a result, were brought home."**_

Wally could feel his anger growing. He wanted to get back to his life, his _family_, but now he had to spend the rest of eternity here? That wasn't fair. _**"Now! I don't even care if I lose my powers, just let me go home to them!"**_

He was growing more desperate by the second. Even though he knew that everybody would do their best to take care of Artemis and their child, he wanted to be the one do it. She deserved to have a proper family after all the abusing and unloving nature she had grown up in as a child. He had promised that he would get back to her somehow, and he was going to let this 'Speed Force' stand in his way?

* * *

_"She **needs **me. She's pregnant, for God's sake, which means that I'll be a father, and I don't want her to go through it alone! I **love **__her!"_

Artemis groaned audibly in pain, suddenly clutching her head as she fell to her knees. Her eyes were clenched shut as Wally's voice echoed into her head once more. Conner and Oliver were at her side instantly, trying to help her stand, but she let out a pained whimper before she drew out his name. "Wally...!" Conner looked at her with wide eyes, confusion evident on his face, before glancing at Oliver whose expression matched his own.

"Artemis," Oliver began, placing a hand on top of her head. She shook her head, trying to pry them away.

_"Now! I don't even care I lose my powers, just let me go home to them!"_

The blonde girl opened her eyes, and removed her hands shakily from her skull. "I need to speak to Batman." she practically yelled, standing up and rushing out quickly with Arrowette and Conner right on her heels. _"Wally, don't you dare sacrifice your powers for me! We're trying to find you, where are you?" _

_"Artemis! Babe, am I glad to hear your voice. I'm stuck in a place called the Speed Force, but I can't escape on my own."_

She cringed as his voice floated into her head. She was getting dizzy, like her whole world was spinning. Everything was going so fast, was this the 'soul-bond' that Martian Manhunter was talking about? _"I can sense you." _she answered hesitantly, testing the words. She could almost see a cheeky grin forming on his pale cheeks, as though he were right there with her. She pressed a hand to her head once more and put the other on Conner's arm to help maintain her balance. _"You're actually alive..."_

"Conner, he's alive!"

* * *

"Are you absolutely certain, Superboy?" Bruce said as he pressed his finger more firmly onto the intercom he had in his left ear. He could hear Artemis' reassurance in the background of hopeful and slightly choked up words. There was a bit of shuffling around on the other line, signifying that Conner was moving around slightly.

_"Not absolutely, but Tigress seems to be in contact with Kid Flash right now through a psychic link."_

Bruce glanced over at Dick who could hear the conversation, from what he could tell by his ever-tightening, clenched fist. His head was down, and he wasn't typing like he had been a few seconds ago before his adoptive father had answered the call. Bruce went back to mulling the information over that he had gathered in his mind, before bringing up a new, blank document to report his new findings. "What's he saying?"

_"Something about a Speed Force?" _

"Barry, can you explain again this energy source that you draw your abilities from?" the billionaire asked, and the blonde man looked over at his fellow founder of the Justice League with an expression that seemed to be a mix between hope (like he knew that it had something to do with Wally) and reluctance. "Flash, this has something to do with your nephew, so if this can help us bring him back, you need to start talking."

The green-eyed man stared at him, and sighed. "It's hard to explain, but when I run, I feel like I'm pulling my energy from somewhere. When I got hit by that lightning bolt all those years ago, it didn't seem natural, and then it happened again when Wally tried to re-create my experiment, so I believe that this 'energy source' caused us to get these powers as well as all that experimenting. Bart has super-speed because my children will be a genetic carrier, but he still uses the source too, maybe even more than the rest of us." he said. "It honestly feels infinite, like it'll never end and that there actually is a place somewhere out there that actually might be trapping Wally if he really is alive, still."

"Ask Conner what's stopping Wally from escaping." Came Dick's voice, interrupting the silence that had fallen over them all (although it had only lasted for a few seconds).

_"Some dude is saying he can't." _

Barbara pressed a hand to her chin thoughtfully, while glancing at the blonde speedster. "Do you think the energy source in controlled by something, Barry? If it is, then a mystical being should be able to do something about it, right? Doctor Fate or Zatanna?"

"It's a possibility." he replied thoughtfully.

"Prepare to go to the Watchtower and alert Zatanna and Doctor Fate."

* * *

Arrowette was now unsure if asking her idol to be her mentor after realising how much the older archer really had to concentrate on. Between her classes at Stanford, missions and her social life, she hardly had time to breathe. "Tigress, are you honestly sure it's okay?"

"Like I said, my terms. We're currently off duty, so we will be on a first name basis. My real name is Artemis Crock, and I assume you are Cissie King-Jones?" The younger girl's eyes widened in surprise, but nodded dumbly nonetheless. "We'll be operating from both Palo Alto, which is where I live now, and Star City. Now, regulations; you have to listen to every word I say and, for God's sake, your costume needs to be changed." she stated, watching as Cissie looked over the flashy costume at her new mentor's words. "I'll be bringing my bow back in as one of my weapons, and I'll be introducing you to all the secrets of Team Arrow."

Cissie removed her mask, and walked over towards the shelves that held replicas of Artemis' old uniform. "Am I going to be wearing that?"

Artemis glowered. "No, perhaps something similar, though. Being a hero is not about wearing jewel-encrusted costumes or expensive jewellery. That's the first thing you need to get into your head; it's not a fashion show. Do you remember those cartoons you used to watch on TV every Saturday morning?" she watched as her new sidekick nodded eagerly. "This isn't like that. It's a lot worse. Bad guys won't take pity on you just because you're young. People have died and have been injured on the job before, on both sides of the law. My mother is a paraplegic after getting injured while she was still working as Huntress eleven years ago."

The younger archer's eyes widened.

"Sorry to scare you, but I'm just telling you the truth. The love of my _life _sacrificed himself to help save the world, and now he's God knows where."

_"You know where. I guess you're living up to your name, then. Does that make you a goddess too?"_

She flinched as Wally's voice floated into her mind.

Artemis sighed, and bent her knees so that her stormy iris' were level with Cissie's sky blue ones. "There are good attributes to being a hero as well. I managed to turn my life around, and look at me now. My father was hell-bent on training me to become an assassin, but I'm using my skills to help bring justice to the world. I know you would like to do the same, and whatever you decide, I'm here to support you. Are you up for it?"

The fourteen year old girl just grinned. "Hell, yes."

Artemis returned it.

"Good."

* * *

"You know, _hermano, _Wally wouldn't like you just staring at his statue all the time. He'd be proud that you're taking over for him." Jaime Reyes said as he walked up towards the young speedster. Bart, every free chance he got, was always in the memorial garden, staring up at the lifeless but cheeky grin the original Kid Flash wore on his hard jaw. Even though he had received a blessing from both Artemis and his grandfather, he still felt remorse of the disappearance of his cousin. Like it was his fault; he had come back to not only stop Blue Beetle from turning evil but to save his grandfather, when he should have focused on 'baby Flash', as the mourning criminals had affectionately called him, instead. Even they called him a fraud.

"He was going to be a father. I wanted to make him proud of me."

The bi-lingual speaking boy was taken aback by the sudden words of compunction that came from the mouth of the usually cheerful teenager. He had no idea what to say. He hadn't known the previous Kid Flash that well, but from he knew, the older hero had been a great man and he was someone Jaime himself looked up too. "I'm sure he is." he said slowly in reply.

Bart finally tore his eyes away from Wally's holographic form.

"How can you be sure of that? You know, Artemis can barely work with me when we're on missions because she always thinks that I'm him. We should have slowed down..." he couldn't help but let his voice trail off. He could barely look at himself in the mirror whenever he had the uniform on, and he believed that he didn't deserve to continue on Wally's legacy as the new Kid Flash. "He was going to have a family, Jaime. How can I live with the guilt of that?"

* * *

_**"C'mon, man, there's people I need to talk to out there!" **_Wally exclaimed, gesturing desperately to Bart who was about to burst into tears. _**"I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye properly. I need to go, please?! Have a heart!" **_

_**"Your really want to go back?" **_

The redhead sighed and nodded. _**"More than anything."**_

_**"There are people in your world who are desperately trying to find a way to bring you back. You also seem to have a connection with your lover and the mother of your child. Other people who have been trapped here in the past were not so lucky, young speedster." **_the person said, looking at the hero who almost looked ready to explode out of annoyance and let out a frustrated scream of anguish. _**"I am sorry about this, young speedster." **_

_**"No, you're not. You're just glad that I'm 'home'."** _he scoffed in response, sitting down and putting his face into his hands.

* * *

Zatanna stood in the main room of the Watchtower, arms folded and tapping her foot impatiently against the cold floor. She looked around, and then turned her attention onto the zeta tubes as Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl and the Flash all made their way towards her wearing civilian clothes; not even wearing a mask of some sort to hide their identities even though the magician knew who they all were by now.

Dick could barely look at her, but stood by and began talking to Barbara, and she couldn't help but feel slightly self-conscious. Now he wasn't even going to talk to her?

"Glad you could make it, Zatanna," Barry said as Bruce walked brought up a holographic screen and a blue-hued keyboard to type on. "We're just waiting on Doctor Fate to meet us here and then we'll explain everything and why we've summoned you here." She noticed that the fastest man alive seemed more cheerful than he had been since the disappearance of his nephew, but shrugged it off. Although she was perfectly happy to help with whatever they needed, she didn't exactly want to work with Doctor Fate or Dick if he was going to act like a prick.

He glanced at her a few times, but she just threw him a glare before turning her back to ignore him. Maybe she had been hanging around Artemis too much, but she was pissed off with the guy. He didn't have to treat her like that; she understood that he was mourning, they all were, and that he was determined to bring his best friend home, but he didn't have to be such a jerk about her.

A few minutes later, the computer announced the arrival of Doctor Fate, and Zatanna faced Bruce while he began to explain the situation.

"For a couple of weeks now, Tigress has made telepathic contact with Kid Flash via something called a 'soul-bond', as Martian Manhunter called it. It seems that he is still alive, just trapped in another dimension. Nightwing, Batgirl, the Flash and I have been doing research since Tigress first approached me with this information and we have to the conclusion that the kinetic energy that Kid Flash absorbed while trying to contain the explosion with Impulse and the Flash actually transported him to the dimension where speedsters draw their energy from."

The resident magician stepped forward in confusion. "Wait, a soul-bond? But Artemis has only said that he's been appearing to her while she sleeps. Soul-bonds are highly unusual, especially in ordinary humans or meta-humans without any mystical abilities, and for Artemis and Wally to develop one would require another telepath-"

"Like M'gann?" said Dick, looking at his ex-girlfriend. "Before you joined the Team, Bats and J'onn got us to do a telepathic training exercise. We were all aware that it wasn't real, but we weren't aware that it was actually designed so that whatever we accomplished, the situation would only get worse. We didn't grieve over the deaths of anyone until M'gann's subconscious forgot about it being fake and our own emotions amplified her own when Artemis was killed." Bruce looked slightly uncomfortable at this point while his adoptive son narrated the story. "Wally pretty much lost the ability think straight and was in full denial over her death, and was completely distraught when it was confirmed that she actually had died. With this, a part of M'gann's telepathy must have accidentally formed a bond between Wally and Artemis, because of his reaction and to her being the cause of his reaction."

Doctor Fate glanced at his host body's daughter protectively on instinct, but shrunk back slightly to address Bruce once more. "You would like us to try and bring him back? If so, a lot of preparation is required."

"Whatever it takes." Barry said firmly. Zatanna looked slightly uncomfortable, and Barbara noticed this. She shoved Dick over towards the magician who hesitantly walked over to her.

She glanced up at him in surprise. "Please, Zee?" he almost begged, the cobalt blue eyes of his she loved so much tugging at her restraints.

She caved. She would try; for him and Artemis.

* * *

The blonde archer was home now, chucking her keys into the bowl on the coffee table and bent down to pet Brucely as he trotted over to greet his owner. She smiled at his adoringly, before standing up and walking over to her bedroom, passing the bathroom along the way. She paused, and stepped inside the small room and looked into the mirror.

She honestly looked horrible.

She had heavy bags under her eyes from lack of sleep and the crying she had done, Her golden locks had tangles and her eyes seemed to hold wisdom beyond the ears. She didn't feel like herself, like she couldn't recognise who she was anymore, but in a different way than to what she had felt like while undercover in Black Manta's organisation with Kaldur.

Artemis was just struggling to stay strong; for herself and her unborn child. But she still held a flame of hope in her heart that he would be able to escape somehow and come back to her.

_"I will, babe, I promise. Somehow, someway, I will." _

* * *

**A/N: Whoa, that was an extremely quick update. I just really want to finish it by Beautiful-Dark's birthday, but I don't think I will. :(**

**Anyway, you guys have no idea how excited I am with all the feedback. Every time I get a new review or see that someone has out it on their alert/favourites list, I jump up and down in pure excitement, and each time, my family look at me like I'm some sort of alien. :D**

**Please continue to review, it's fantastic! You guys are fantastic! Everybody who reads/read this is fantastic! :D**

**Word Count: 2,882**

**~CL**


	4. Shatter

**Heartstrings: Shatter**

_**by Cerulean Leader**_

_**For Beautiful-Dark**_

_****__****__****__**ø,,ø¤º°°º¤ø,**__**Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ**__**,**__**ø¤º°°º¤ø**__**,,**__**ø**_

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)**

**************NOTE: For more information, see Chapter 1. Also, I'm looking for someone to design a cover for this, if they're up to it. :) Inbox me if you're interested.**

* * *

Zatanna sat awkwardly inside the briefing room with her legs folded over each other in the lotus position. Doctor Fate was on the opposing side of the room, not glancing at her, which was actually glad for. She needed to concentrate, and she couldn't exactly do that with the man, who had taken over her father's body, looking or trying to bring up a conversation with her.

"_Etativel." _She murmured to herself, feeling her body loosen up and grow lighter as she rose off the floor and began hovering mid-air. She shut her eyes and held a wand in one of her gloved hands as she gathered as much magic power as she could. She could hear the footsteps of the Lord of Order coming towards her, momentarily disrupting her concentration, but she pushed all thoughts and emotions out of her mind to purely focus on the task at hand.

The tiring ordeal was definitely taking its toll on her, as she could tell, because of the amount of energy and concentration that was needed to focus her magic. Even though she was a lot more experienced as a magician than she was at fourteen when she had trouble performing a simple locating spell, a friend's fate was almost resting entirely on her shoulders. She would not mess this up; she couldn't.

After Dick's simple plea and that look in his eyes to help bring his best friend back, it was like an automatic promise between them. He was relying on her, they all were, and she would not let them down by her own discomfort of having Doctor Fate around or her own insecurities. If Bruce and Barry were trusting her with this as well, then they were confident in her abilities, which meant that she should be too.

She closed her mind off to the outside world, and let it wonder as he pulled together mentally the strength to perform this ginormous task.

* * *

Nobody had informed Artemis or Wally's parents what was to happen, which Bruce had advised as a precautionary measure in case things were not to go as planned. Barry wasn't sure what to feel exactly, and his wife could tell that something was off about her husband with the way he had been acting at home. His behaviour was seemingly more weird than usual, since the disappearance of their nephew, but instead of just moping around and going for runs to clear his head on a straight and long road in Australia (which, in all honestly, was definitely a speedster's heaven), he was pacing around the house a lot.

She'd had to warn him more than once about burning a hole in the floor because of friction.

Her pregnancy was going well, being almost six months along in the process, but holding two babies in her stomach that seemed to hold the same powers as Barry was exhausting. She had mentally noted on many occasions to warn Artemis about the pain whenever the twins decided to start "tap dancing on [her] spleen", like she had 'affectionately' told the scarlet speedster once.

But going back to his behaviour, she was still unable coax out of him what had been taking over his mind. It was frustrating the poor woman.

Bart had been told in private by his grandfather, whose had held the biggest grin ever seen by someone (exaggerating of course, but it was still a large grin) while on patrol one day to cheer him up when Captain Boomerang called the young meta-human a replacement and a disgrace of "baby Flash", almost giving up the uniform because he continued to think that it was rightfully Wally's. The boy had a right to know, so that he would stop feeling guilty and blaming himself over the 'death' of his cousin.

_"Kid, don't listen to them."_

_"Don't call me that, Flash. It's true, I can't live up to the name."_

_"You already are. He'd be proud, and he can even tell you that himself."_

Seeing her grandson strutting around cheerfully made Iris a little uneasy as well, because it was obvious that he knew what Barry was hiding from her. When she had asked Bart about it, he had just responded with something about a new girl joining the Team.

Oh, speedsters were the most infuriating people.

* * *

Cissie had gone on a few outings with Artemis first before the older vigilante decided that she was ready to meet the rest of the Team. It was slightly intimidating, because majority of these heroes she looked up too and now she was one of them. She had become fast friends with Cassie and Bart, who was always looking at her with a shy but cheeky smile whenever he saw the archer, and fit in with the strange people around her quite nicely. The senior members, like her own mentor, Superboy, Miss Martian and Aqualad, were still up for debate because whenever they talked to her, all she could do was let out a nervous squeak.

Spotting the League members around the Watchtower as well was extremely awkward. Some of them knew who she was, like Zatanna and Rocket, because they were good friends with Artemis, but with people like Wonder Woman, the Green Lanterns and even Captain Marvel she would slowly shuffle away, which wasn't like her. She was a lot like Artemis in a lot of ways, according to Oliver and Roy, so it was pretty unusual for her to act like this, but understandable at the same time.

Artemis had also provided her with a more practical costume, though she had refused to let go of the skirt, and was now donning red as her main colour. She wore a bare-midriff top that showed her stature with an attached cowl that looked like a hood when she wasn't wearing it as a mask, she had kept her gloves though changed the gold one to red to match her uniform, thigh-length combat boots with built-in knee-pads and a pair of black, running shorts to wear underneath the white skirt. She was now opting to wear her hair, that extended to her mid-back, down as well instead of in a fancy up-do. She had also removed the dangly earrings.

"You're actually pretty skilled with a bow." Artemis complimented her sidekick one day while they were on patrol in Palo Alto. The city was quite peaceful and was not crime-filled like Gotham is, especially in the Heights where she grew up. "How long have you been training to use a bow?"

Cissie smiled back at the woman glad in burnt orange. "My mum began to teach me when I turned ten. She used to be Miss Arrowette, and developed a condition in her wrists that rendered her from picking up a bow ever again. Before she died, I asked her to teach me because of you and Green Arrow. You guys saved my dad and it made me realise just how much work goes into being a hero. I wanted to work that hard too." she explained, attaching an arrow to the bowstring and aiming it at a man escaping from a jewellery store. The barbed head exploded, revealing a sticky and gooey web that trapped the man against the brick wall as he groaned in annoyance at being caught. "So, how is everything with you? The baby?"

"The kid is a speedster, just my luck."

Cissie couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh. Artemis shot a grappling arrow and the two archers used their bows to slide down to the store. "Kid Flash seems to have cheered up pretty quickly as well. He's acting a little strange, but it seems completely honest and not forced at all. He acts shy around me, though, which I'm a little confused about."

Artemis couldn't help but smirk in response.

_"GA is going to have a field-day when he finds out about Bart liking your sidekick, Arty." _

Like every other time, she flinched at the sound of Wally's voice in her head.

_"I miss you. How are things on your end?" _she asked, releasing her bow and tumbling to a stop in front of the jewellery shop robber with the younger blonde on her heels. She heard Wally let out an echoed frustrated groan.

_"I'm trying, babe, seriously. What about Dick's plan?"_

_"He has a plan?!"_

* * *

The magician opened her eyes and slowly let her boots touch the floor. She breathed in deeply before exhaling, trying to catch her breath because she was almost mentally exhausted from the meditating and power she had to gather in order to help bring Wally home. Doctor Fate was waiting for her, standing beside Dick who looked slightly uncomfortable himself as Zatanna turned around to face both of them.

"I'm ready." she stated simply.

Doctor Fate placed a hand on the black-haired girl's shoulder, momentarily pausing her as she walked forward to bring up a holographic screen and keyboard. "Zatanna," he said simply. She didn't want to look at him or Dick at the moment, so she rolled her joint back to signal for him to remove his gloves hand.

"Zatanna," he tried again. "Your father would like me to inform you of a few things."

She practically flinched at the very mention of her beloved dad, and the Italian turned to glare at him. Dick was right behind The Lord of Order, nodding at her supportively to listen. What right did he have to tell her what to do? "The first are on a personal level, so please do not hold these words against me; Giovanni Zatara is saying for me to tell you that he loves and, and that he is extremely proud of what you have achieved. He also says that you are ready to complete this task with me. Secondly, he said that in order to complete this spell, maintain complete concentration and clear all from your mind. No negative conflict can be led back into it."

She couldn't help but glance at Dick, who stared right back at her.

"Negative conflict?" she whispered, before her voice began to rise in volume. "If _dick_head over there would let me in, then there wouldn't be any!" she shouted, clenching her eyes shut. "For Merlin's sake, Richard Grayson, what the hell is going on between us?!"

"Doctor Fate, could you please excuse us and leave us in privacy for a few minutes?"

"Certainly."

Zatanna looked away as he walked off, and Dick stood still, unsure of what to say. "You're confusing me, Nightwing." she stated. He raised his head sharply, because she didn't call him that unless they were on duty or she was completely serious. "You know how I feel, and I get that getting Wally back is your top priority right now, but is so hard to let me in and support you as well? You're giving me mixed signals here; it's like you want me there but you keep pushing me away."

He sighed, and ran a hand through his shaggy, black hair. "I've lost a lot of people in my life, Zee, my parents, Jason, and my best friend. I'm trying to keep my distance because at the moment, I'm not myself." he shrugged, not meeting her gaze when she turned to face him. "It's hard because I just want you around all the time..." he trailed off and didn't notice that she had wrapped her arms around him until his nose was buried in the crook of her neck, breathing in her strange scent combination of vanilla, carrot and Italian spices.

"You're not going to lose me too. I'm here to _support you_ in any way I can, you just have to let me."

* * *

"Is everything ready?" Barry asked eagerly, biting his fingernails in nervousness, a habit he had picked up in his early teenage years. His blonde hair was ruffled from tugging at it all day, the truth of what he and the others were planning almost causing him to explode while he paced inside the cafeteria with Bart trying to calm him down, but it's not like the younger boy was faring any better who couldn't contain his excitement.

Bruce glanced at his friend. "Nightwing is with Zatanna now, and Doctor Fate has informed me that she should be fully prepared in a matter of minutes." he said. They had cleared the whole Watchtower away except for the ones who knew about the possibility of Wally's return, excluding Artemis and Conner. No one else knew, and they preferred to keep it that way, though it wasn't like Artemis and Conner knew what they were up too.

Doctor Fate nodded his head, before leading the two men, Barbara and Bart into the main hangar of the Watchtower where Zatanna and Dick were. They were wearing shy smiles, and their cheeks were slightly red, and the Lord of Order looked like he was about to lose it, under the instincts of Giovanni.

"Zatanna, are you ready?" Barbara asked with a cheeky wink, as she set up a keyboard and a few screens to surround the people as Dick walked over to the other occupants of the room, trading places with Doctor Fate who was now standing next to the beautiful magician. She nodded, her facial expression growing serious as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She retrieved the wand from her blazer pocket and held it in her hand. She pressed her hands together and closed her eyes.

_"Etativel."_

They all watched as she once again began to hover a few feet above the ground with Doctor Fate following, though in a standing position. He placed one hand on her shoulder, his eyes glowing a bright gold which seemed to have passed onto Zatanna whose eyes opened suddenly to reveal them being the same as Doctor Fate's. She let out a gasp, and raised her hand which held her wand with the man behind her lifting his unoccupied arm, stretching out his hand.

_**"Puer celeriter ostende te mystici. Uenistine domum ad tuos mundi mandamus vobis, quoniam in novissimo vita. Aliquam vis, confestim dimittet eos. Adducite eum ad nos, et ad locum suum. Afferte illum in domum suam de manu vestra, et dimittam **__** Ire permitteret, quidquid uult currat libero et dimitte eum!"**_

The chanting lasted for a good fifteen minutes before anything happened.

A large vortex began to grow in the middle of the room, and Barbara quickly typed something into the keyboard near her to help them stay grounded instead of getting sucked into what seemed to be a portal. It was circular, looking almost like smoke, and fast movements of colour were able to be seen. A yell, that was extremely familiar was like music to everyone's ears, as they watched a deformed looking young man practically fly out of the vortex, but was knocked unconscious as soon as he hit the floor.

It was Wally, and Barry practically screamed in joy when he spotted his nephew. Zatanna and Doctor Fate continued to chant, as the vortex slowly began to close.

"Quick, get him to the medical bay." Bruce ordered, and Dick and Barry rushed over to pick up Wally. He looked pretty banged up, with blood covering the exposed skin from the tears in his uniform, and his body was flowing with red, blue and gold electricity, making zapping noises as the small bolts moved around him.

Bart was running beside them, before he noticed Wally's body slowly fading away, again. "Wait, gramps! You need to look at Wally!"

Dick and Barry slowed down, and Bart's face had grown a horrified expression. "No, not again! Don't you dare Wallace Rudolph West, Artemis needs you!" Dick yelled, slapping the unconscious speedster across the face. "We just got you home, don't leave again!" Bart was sobbing and Barry was now yelling at Wally too.

"Wally, wake up!"

"Somebody get Artemis!"

* * *

**"This is Linda Park, reporting live from Central City. A strange light has appeared in the middle of the business district, and is apparently moving at extreme speeds. According to onlookers, a body was seen to be leaving the trail behind."**

Artemis' mouth was agape as she stared at the Korean woman on the television. Brucely seemed to sense some sort of discomfort from his owner, and became especially worried when she didn't respond to him nudging her leg, licking her hand or barking loudly to gain her attention. It made him feel uneasy. The blonde suddenly used the remote so that the TV went black, and grabbed her communicator off the table.

_"Tigress, we were just about to contact you!" _came Barbara's voice through the speaker. She sounded really worried, frantic almost, which was extremely unusual for a member of the Bat clan, people who were always level-headed, even in a time of crisis.

_"Babs, what the **hell** __is going on?!" _she shrieked back harshly into the intercom. A few sounds of shuffling, an annoyed string of words and static were heard as Barbara's communicator seemed to be passed around.

A male's voice addressed the blonde this time. _"'Mis,__ it's Dick. You need to stay traught after I tell you this, okay? We found Wally." _he said seriously, waiting patiently as Artemis stayed silent in shock.

She almost dropped the communicator in her hand before shaking her head, trying to make sure she heard right. "What?"

_"He's home, but he disappeared on us. Zatanna and Doctor Fate performed a spell to bring him back to our dimension, and when we were bringing him to the medical bay, because he looked in pretty bad shape, he faded away."_

"I think I might know where he is." she replied, before hanging up and throwing on her costume.

She was going out there.

* * *

It wasn't long before she had transported herself to Wally's hometown, to where she suspected he was. She had a hunch that he was the speeding thing was scaring all the citizens and running amuck in the bright city. She ran straight past the safety ropes, ignoring the frantic yells of the police officers as they tried to call her back. The extremely afraid people watched on in awe and fear for the girl who was risking her life to stop something they thought impossible.

Artemis grunted as her blonde hair hit her in the face, digging her heels in the ruined, cemented ground of the (previously) smooth roads. A tornado had begun to form, rising towards the clouds as whatever it was continued to run. The light was shining so bright, almost blinding her, but she knew that she was needed right now. It was definitely Wally.

"Kid!" she yelled as loudly as she could, trying to gain his attention, but her husky voice just disappeared into the howls of the wind that was being caused by what she hoped was a delusional Wally.

_"Wally, can you hear me?! You need to stop running! I'm right here, you need to stop! Look for me, okay? I love you, so stop running!" _she yelled desperately into her mind, her stormy eyes widening as a pair of arms reached to grab her. She was whisked off her feet with a loud scream, as she was gripped at the underside her knees and the small of her back.

She looked up, and saw his eyes, the ones she loved, but they were filled with fear. "A-Arty..." he said, his voice hoarse. "I can't stop..."

"Wally!" she sobbed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You can! I believe in you! You kept your promise and came back to me, so I know that you _can _stop!"

He let out a pained yell as he tried to force himself to slow down. This was the fastest he had ever run in his entire life, but he wasn't pushing himself to speed up like he usually did. Was this a side-effect from being in the Speed Force for so long? Artemis gripped the side of his face so that he would face her, and she pressed her lips to his quickly to distract him. This managed to do it, but she was thrown out of his arms and away from him.

She landed on the ground with a grunt, before scrambling to her feet again while she watched as the yellow and red tornado slowed down.

**"Miss, are you alright?!" **asked the chief police officer through the loudspeaker. He sounded extremely concerned and relieved when he saw that she had managed to stop the havoc continuing in their city. She gave him a thumbs-up, and ran over to where Wally was kneeling, shoulders slumped as he gasped for breath. She pushed his ruined cowl away, and took off her own mask, before pulling him in for a heated kiss. She could feel tears at the corners of her eyes as Wally slowly pressed back into her, not leaving any space between them.

When she pulled away, she gave him a watery smile as the tears began to stream down her face while she stared at the love of her life. "You're back, you're really back..."

He panted, and gave her one back.

"Yeah."

That was when everything went black for him. Artemis screamed as she watched his eyes roll to the back of his head, and yelled for someone to get the paramedics while she contacted the Flash.

"Wally! No, no, stay with me! I just got you back, stay awake!" she sobbed, shaking his shoulders. She let out an anguished cry, laying him down gently on the ground as the paramedics went over to her with a stretcher. They allowed her to quickly replace his cowl and the mask on her face before lifting him onto the makeshift bed, and running it towards the ambulance. He'd better be okay.

* * *

**A/N: I'm like hyperventilating right now, and my heart is beating really really fast. I don't care if it seems rushed, I honestly love it. Beautiful-Dark thinks I'm mean, so if you do too, then I'm sorry. XD Also, happy birthday for yesterday, lovely! **

**Sorry for the couple of day wait for a new update, but I wasn't sure how to approach my ideas. Also, to all the Chalant shippers, hope you enjoyed the nice healthy dosing of it. Does it live up to the expectations? D: I've never written this pairing before, since it's not my main ship for Dick, but I hope I did okay. **

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review, as they are greatly appreciated. :) You guys have no idea how giddy I grow and how much I fan girl when I read your comments. :D It's honestly awesome. **

**To the nonnies and reviewers who haven't logged on or don't have an account, thank you for your continued support, and to everyone else, including all the silent ones, people who have favourited and out it on their alert list. Honestly, it means a lot and keeps my going to write this. :D **

**Translation: (the spell is written in Latin and the English was translated using Google Translate so I apologise if there are any errors) **

_"Young boy speed, reveal yourself to the mystics. We command you to come home to your world, because you have a future to live. Speed Force, let him go at once. Bring him to us, back to where he belongs. Bring him home, and release him from your grasp! Allow him to walk, run freely and do whatever he wishes! Release him!"_

**Word Count: 3,640**

**Anyway, keep an eye out for the next update. :)**

**Until then,**

**~CL**


	5. Irreplacable

**Heartstrings: Irreplacable**

_**by Cerulean Leader**_

_**For Beautiful-Dark**_

_****__****__****__**ø,,ø¤º°°º¤ø,**__**Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ**__**,**__**ø¤º°°º¤ø**__**,,**__**ø**_

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)**

**************Warning: Uh, there's some reference to the... thing that people do when they love each other very much. The birds and the bees. Yeah, that.**

**************NOTE: For more information, see Chapter 1. An epilogue _may _be included later on. Also, keep in mind that this is actually unrelated to majority of my other YJ fan fics because this goes by the complete canon, from beginning to end, while the others were written while the show was still on. :(**

* * *

"C'mon, Wally, stay with me!" she yelped, running a hand through his red locks. He wasn't moving, and she wasn't sure what frightened her the most; the fact that he was back but in this condition or the fact that none of this could have happened in the first place. "Our baby is here too!"

He wasn't responding. Why wasn't he responding?!

"Bats, he's not answering me!"

Bruce came into the room quickly, followed by Dick and both of them watched as Artemis moved to straddle the man, and pinched his cheeks in an effort to wake him up. Dick reached over and tried to pry her off him by grabbing her waist and pulling her away, with her screaming and reaching out for him. "No, Dick! Put me down!"

"He isn't going to wake up with you in this condition! He's injured, 'Mis, give him time!"

He still had her lifted off the ground, as she struggled out of his grasp, pushing at his arms so that he would let her go but he wouldn't budge. She was crying by this point, not wanting to be apart from him, and Bruce was forced to ban her from Wally's quarters in the Watchtower medical bay so that they could work on him in peace. Dinah, Shayera and Ollie were supposed to be coming soon because the women both had some sort of medical training, and the archer was there for support.

Wally was absolutely covered in bandages, dry blood and sweat, and it was a horrifying sight for all of them who had to see him like that.

As soon as the three arrived, they rushed to their designated stations. Ollie immediately gathered up his 'niece' in a hug while she sobbed into his shoulder, staining his blazer with Wally and her blood, not that he cared at this moment. He pressed her closer to him, and she cried her heart out.

She couldn't lose him, not when she had only just got him back.

* * *

He could hear noises, but it seemed that he couldn't open his eyes. There was a beeping sound that came recurringly every second or so, then an annoying suction sound like water through a tube. He commanded his eyes to flutter open or for his fingers to lift even a little bit, but they wouldn't do what they were told. He could feel a soft material beneath his palms, but it didn't feel like the blankets he was used too in the bed he shared with Artemis at home or the one in his room in Central City.

There was gentle pressure on his hand, presumably someone clutching his hand in theirs, and he could smell a scent of green apples and something spicy that he couldn't identify. He heard a sniffle, and a heaved sigh from a hoarse voice as his fingers were squeezed tighter.

"Wally," the voice began. The woman pressed a kiss to the back of his hand and put it against her smooth cheeks. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I need to say this. You know how we always said that we would always come back to each other if something happened? Well, you're not really keeping that promise, you asshole."

it was definitely Artemis.

"So, wake up for me, okay? Don't make me beg, you know I'm not the type," she stopped for a moment, as though expecting a remark along the lines of "but you are, especially when it comes to _it"_, but none came. He could feel something wet against his skin, presumably a tear, and he willed himself to wake up. He slowly managed to get his eyelids to flutter open, and a sleepy smile made its way onto his face. His feisty lover gasped when she saw him, and sobs began to escape her once again, but she tried to choke them back as much as she could, not that it was working that well. "Wally...!" she whimpered, burying her face into his abdomen. "I-I was so worried about you...!"

Wally instinctively began to rub soothing circles into the small of her back. "Babe, I'm fine." he managed to wheeze out. "I just feel a little... funny."

"You're vibrating."

He glanced down at his hand, and indeed he was. Maybe he was in the Speed Force for too long. "How did I get back here?"

The blonde next to him sighed. "I honestly don't know, exactly. We've been... communicating through a mind-link that neither of us knew we had and apparently Zatanna and Doctor Fate managed to bring you back after Bats and your uncle managed to confirm where you were. Apparently, you faded away again after you were brought to the Watchtower to Central City. You were running so fast that you managed to create a really big tornado without much effort. I jumped into it to stop you."

His eyes widened at her words. "Artemis, the baby... You can't keep doing things like that, what if something happens to the baby?"

"The baby's fine." she insisted. "Now, will you stay still? You're kind of freaking me out a bit."

* * *

When Artemis had brought him towards his parents house (while in a wheelchair - something he deemed embarassing but had silenced when she had glared at him), Rudy and Mary just stood there with wide eyes for a good twenty seconds before they finally reacted. Rudy immediately clasped his son in a tight bear hug, and May had literally screamed and dropped she had been scrubbing.

"My baby is alive!"

She then joined in the hug as well, pulling both her boys closer to her body and tears began to free-fall down her slightly wrinkled face. Rudy just had his eyes closed as he knelt beside Wally, who clenched the fabric of his parents shirts in his hands as though he wanted to brandish the patterns into his palms. He didn't cry, though, he just allowed them to accept the fact that he was here, he was okay. Artemis stood off to the side, a content smile on her face as she watched them be reunited. She, herself, couldn't help but let tears well up in her eyes at the grogeous sight before her.

They had chosen to stay for dinner and sleep over that nigth in Central City, and Mary had prepared a meal that one would see on Thanksgiving or Christmas, albeit smaller, potatoes and all.

She must have missed cooking for her son with a black hole for a stomach because when she was seasoning the meat or dressing the salad, a large smile had been adopting her lips, not that Artemis could blame her. It was completely understandable. They questioned her about their grandchild (with silly smiles) and Artemis could feel the fetus kicking against her flesh. Yep, it was definitely a speedster.

Rudy, stroking his ever-present moustache, couldn't help but remark about the pregnancies in the family. "I found out that my sister was pregnant a couple of months ago with my niece and nephew because of Bart, and I'm also going to be a grandfather. No more for a couple of years at least." he said teasingly. "No more going at it like rabbits."

Artemis, at least, had the decency to turn red as a tomato, while Wally just shrugged and replied with his mouth full of steak. "No one can resist me, dad. I'm justh that loveable."

"Yeah, a loveable _fool."_

Being his old room while hugging the mother of his child reminded him of when they were teenagers. Artemis would often sneak in through his bedroom window just to spend the night with him when she had had a bad day, and, him being the amazing boyfriend he was, would hold her against his bare chest while the sheets covered their bodies. The double bed seemed smaller than it had been a few years ago while he was still living there, and Wally couldn't but help feel small again. He let his eyes roam around the room as the light breaths of his girlfriend were emitted from her, a wave of nostalgia going through him.

He then remembered something.

Wasn't this where he had hid _it?_

He would find it later. At the moment, he just wanted to lie down in peace with Artemis.

* * *

Iris was probably one of the hardest people to break the news too. Bart had decided that he should be the one to do it, since Barry had trouble holding it together whenever his former sidekick was in the room or whenever he was mentioned. She had literally burst into loud cries because of already heightened emotions, she was pregnant after all, and the young speedster had to clamp his hands over his ears while his grandmother let out wails like a siren.

Jay and Joan had been there as well when Bart had told Iris, with Joan fainting from shock and Jay showering them all in questions. Not to mention they had to call an ambulance in order to help Joan recover. The poor woman, who saw Wally as her grandson, had to be told again after she had regained consciousness.

With Conner, Dick, Babs and Bart's help, it had been easier to tell the Team of what had been going on without their knowledge.

The green-eyed boy wheeled himself into the room, a laugh emitting from Dick at the sight who was right back to his cheerful self upon the return of his best friend, and everyone practically glomped Wally upon sight of him. Kaldur has only been able to give his close friend a one-armed hug because he was holding Amistad againat his hip, finally discovering the origin of the boy - that he was the Altantean's son. No questioned it or spoke negatively about either of his parents; Raquel was getting married after all and Kaldur was happy being involved in Amistad's life.

The Justice League had decided to leave the Watchtower under the supervision of the senior members of the Team in order to celebrate the return of the speedster who had been missing for several months. It had been quite a hectic night.

Lian, seeing her aunt's boyfriend, was excited to see "Uncle Wally" for the first time since he had returned.

"She looks really comfortable with him." Jade couldn't help but say when she and Roy had gone to visit them at their apartment in Palo Alto. She had also snuck a glance at her little sister's stomach, smirking at the younger girl.

* * *

After a few weeks, Dinah and Shayera finally informed Wally that he didn't have to use the wheelchair anymore, as long as he took it easy. "We mean it, kid." the Thanagarian woman had said to him sternly, shaking her finger at him. She had always been intimidating to him, even more than her husband, Katar, who was a big and burly man with giant wings.

Bart, on the other hand, had other ideas. He seemed to sense that his cousin had this constant urge to run and had challenged him to a race to which Wally could not pass up because of his competitive streak, even though he knew by now that Bart was a lot faster than him. At least, so he thought.

"Hey, Wall-man, you're vibrating again! Why don't you put the this ability to good use, since you now know how to use it and race me?!" Bart had called while they were chilling at Wally and Artemis' apartment. The woman of the house had class that day, and wouldn't be back for another hour, and had warned her boyfriend profusely that if either of them did anything stupid, she would have their heads (though, it was said in a much more violent manner) to which Brucely had barked happily, earning a glare from the two speedsters.

Even though he had been gone for a few months and there was still a lot of things to get used too, some things hadn't changed; something he was glad for.

Artemis had fully accepted him back into her life without hesitation, and even though his world was slightly messed up right now, he was prepared to work at it until it was even better than before he left.

"You're on, pipsqueak!"

They each quickly changed into their Kid Flash costumes, which was something Wally felt bad about since Bart held the title now and he wanted to change his identity anyway, and quickly set themselves up to run. Bart noticed that Wally had slight electrical charged emitting from his body, something that Wally failed to notice himself, even though they were coming from him.

They crouched on the road, fingers pressing gently onto the smoothed out gravel, and as soon was Wally said "GO!", they both took off in an instant, leaving a large cloud of smoke and small cracks from the speed they were running at. When Wally usually ran, he had to accelerate and decelerate in order to stop and start, but in this instance, he was moving at an extremely fast speed as soon as he took off, something he had been unable to do before.

He was panicking inside his head.

_"Oh my god!"_

_"Wally?"_

He cringed as Artemis' voice entered his mind, mentally hitting himself for projecting his thoughts through the soul-bond. Apparently, the connection between them hadn't gone away after he had gotten back, and after M'gann had realised that it had been her who had caused it accidentally, had apologised profusely.

He shook his head, and glanced at Bart beside him who had a large, excited grin on his face, and before the two knew it, they were running across the ocean at an incredible pace. They both felt so light on their feet, their weight barely dipping into the water and the wind on their faces and in their hair definitely felt good. The sparks from Wally's body began to expand more, leaving a trail behind him along with his normal speed trail of yellow and red from his uniform. "Bart, why are you keeping up with me?!" he yelled towards his young cousin.

"I'm not! We're not even going at my top speed, and you're managing to stay paced with me! Isn't this faster than normal for you?!" he shouted back, letting out an excited laugh when he finally realised what was going on. "Wally, you've gotten faster!"

The redhead couldn't believe his ears. His eyes widened, staring at the horizon ahead before watching Bart run ahead of him. He then began to push himself, willing himself to catch up to Bart. Instead, he zoomed right past him, with a yelp of panic.

"Bart!"

* * *

"We're going to be parents, soon." Artemis said with a grin as she watched her boyfriend trace patterns on her slightly swollen belly. His sleepy grin eyes seemed to twinkle when he smiled gently back at her, drawing her closer to him with her back against his chest. "Even though they weren't planned, I'm glad that we're going to become a family.

He let out a grunt in response, moving so that he could press a kiss to her bare shoulder, feeling something digging into his thigh through the pockets of his track pants. "You know that I love you, right?" he asked suddenly, causing the blonde to sit up in confusion.

"Of course. What's wrong?" she replied inquisitivey.

He stood up and reached for her hands, getting her to follow him to the edge of the bed. Her stormy eyes were wide, full of curiousity of what was going on, but as soon as she saw him kneeling in front of her, she knew instantly.

She then began to cry, and attempted to smile through her tears as Wally pulled out a velvet box from his pocket. "I want to make our family official. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and even though I didn't know it when I first met you, I probably wanted too then as well." he laughed, looking up at her. He opened the lid, and watched as she gasped, placing her hand over her mouth.

"Artemis Crock, will you do me the honour of marrying my sorry ass?"

She nodded, unable to form words. Silly smiles adorned both of their faces as Wally slipped on the elegant, silver band with a small diamond in the centre onto the ring finger of her left hand before envoloping her in a hug and twirling her around. She clutched his face and brought him in for a passionate kiss, neither of them wanting to pull away. He could feel her tears on his face but he didn't mind. They molded their lips together roughly, before she traced her tongue onto his bottm lip.

The two then fell on top of their bed, with the impact finally bringing their heads apart.

"I think I like the sound of Artemis West." Wally whispered to her. She just laughed.

"I do too."

* * *

Zatanna and Dick were happy again. They had been pretty much attached to the hip ever since they got back together, like now for example, with his arm looped around the small of her back while they sat across from Artemis at one of the small coffee shops on campus at Stanford University.

"So, do they know about you being pregnant?" the magician asked as she watched the woman across from her gobble down three bagels. It wasn't her fault; the baby seemed to have inherited their father's metabolism as well, so Artemis had been a lot more than she usually would, even going as far to steal Wally's 'hidden' stashes of food he had around their apartment, much to his complete and utter annoyance.

_"I put a rock on your finger, and this how you repay me? By stealing my food?!" _he had said.

Dick just raised an eyebrow at her, watching as she smiled them sheepishly while wiping the crumbs off her face with a serviette. "Yeah, Wally and I told them a couple of weeks ago. If I remember correctly, their exact words were "we're surprised it hadn't happened earlier"." she stated in annoyance. She clicked her tongue, and pouted. "Jeez, it's like they think that Wally and I do nothing but go at it all the time."

"Well, out of all of us, you do have the most prominant sex life." Dick answered her with a laugh. "Anyway, Bruce has offered to pay for a new apartment so that you guys have more room for when the baby comes, and a nanny or a maid."

"Hand over Alfred, and you've got yourself a deal."

"Never!"

"But he makes the best cookies!"

"So? He's mine!"

Zatanna giggled at her boyfriend and her best friend while the two bickered childishly. They were honestly like brother and sister, had been since they first met, especially since Artemis found out who Dick Grayson actually was after the two and Babs had gone shopping and she made him try on a pair of sunglasses. When Barbara had first told Zatanna the story, and how Artemis had reacted by reeling her arm back and socking him in the eye, she hadn't been able to look Dick in the face for a good five days without bursting into laughter.

They were just excited after all.

* * *

**A/N: I hate this so much. Ugh, it's horrible. It just seems to happy, and a variety of things weren't explored that much, either. Anyway, if anyone can point out any loose ends I missed, let me know and I'll try to fix them up for the next chapter. If there is one. Maybe. **

**They really do cry too much, don't they? Stupid waterworks.**

**Guys, I have a feeling you're all crazy. 40 reviews? Is that even possible for me? Thank you guys so much! It was about 4am the other day when I checked it (I was awake because I have a really bad cold) and I was screaming in my head out of excitement because otherwise I would've gotten yelled at by mum or dad. :S**

**All of you guys are absolutely amazing, and it's thanks to _everyone,_ not just the reviewers, that have given me the encouragement to finish this for you guys.**

**Okay, I'll be nice and give you a guys some good news. There'll be an epilogue.**

**"...oops! Spoilers..."**

**Word Count: 3,311**

**~CL**


	6. Unforgettable

**Heartstrings: Unforgettable**

_**by Cerulean Leader**_

_**For Beautiful-Dark**_

_****__****__****__**ø,,ø¤º°°º¤ø,**__**Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ**__**,**__**ø¤º°°º¤ø**__**,,**__**ø**_

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. :)**

**************Warning: A bit of swearing and labour. **

**************NOTE: For more information, see Chapter 1. Also, check out my new YJ one-shot which is a companion piece of Heartstrings. It's basically snippets of Lati growing up, along with her little brother. :D**

**************Cover: I have no idea what's happening with this, so if anyone wants to design something for me, inbox me. :D**

**************Thank you _so much _to everybody who has read this. You guys have made me so happy! :D Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"Wally, I swear to God…!"

Artemis heaved in a gulp of hair, wincing and clutched her abdomen with one hand as she held her communicator in the other, pressing the distressed signal button for the Watchtower. The bastard fiancé of hers wasn't home. He had decided to out with his friends for drinks in order to celebrate his last few nights of freedom before their wedding in a couple of weeks. They'd been hoping that their child would have been born by then.

He had been worried to leave her alone with her on the edge of labour, but she had assured him that she would be fine.

How wrong she was.

She screamed, leaning over to try and make the pain subside, but it wouldn't. How far apart were her contractions again? "Holy shit!"

Brucely, unsure of what to do obviously, because how often would a dog know what to do in a situation like this, trotted over to his owner and licked her face, trying to calm her down. He then turned to bark at the door, trying to alert someone, anyone, to help them.

_"Wally!" _

* * *

He flinched when he heard his name getting yelled in his head. He almost choked on the beer he was chugging down, and Mal slapped him on the back to help the redhead regain his breath. Dick looked confused for a moment, before glancing down at his lap where his phone was beeping, with the Tigress' symbol flashing. "Wally, there might be a problem." he said, passing the device to his best friend. Wally's green eyes widened, pressing on the symbol before a recording of Artemis' pained voice made the whole group grow rigid.

_**"Whoever the hell is answering this, can someone call Wally to get his butt over here? He's about to become a dad, and I can't really hold the baby off for that long! I need to get the hospital, now! Dick, Conner, Ollie, whoever, just help me!"**_

"Oh my god!"

He was staring at the phone, dumbfounded, barely able to register what words had echoed through his ears until Conner yanked on the shirt he was wearing, dragging the redhead away as Dick dropped a few bills on the table to pay for their drinks while them three, Mal, and Kaldur all ran off as they worried for their friend towards the nearest zeta tube.

As they were running, Kaldur thought it was probably best that they alert Barry and Oliver.

"Aqualad to Watchtower, requesting transmission to the Flash and Green Arrow."

_**"Copy that, Aqualad, but the Flash is already on the move. In fact, he's with you..."**_

"To the League member, La'gaan..." Kaldur replied in annoyance, sighing as they finally reached the zeta-tube.

Mal couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "Maybe it's time you went for your own identity once again, Wally."

* * *

He had called an ambulance on the way back to the apartment he shared with Artemis in Palo Alto. Even though he could get her to the local hospital a lot faster, he didn't really trust himself in a such a delicate situation involving the love of his life and their baby. He had literally bolted home, screaming into the speaker of his mobile at the receptionist on the other line, only to find the blonde clutching her swollen belly while she screamed in pain.

"Wally! This baby is coming!"

"It'll be alright, babe. I promise." he said quickly, pressing a kiss to her forehead before dashing off to retrieve the bag they had packed in case this happened. Also, he collected a few pillows from their bed and a blanket, setting them up against the couch so that she would be in a slightly more comfortable position when the paramedics arrived. He glanced to the side in a panic, noticing a small puddle of water in the kitchen. That's where her water must have broken. "Dick, I need you do me a favour and get Paula to the hospital, and my parents as well." Wally stated into the phone, hearing it beep once again.

"Wally, I don't think I can do this!"

He was about to tear his hair out. "Artie, remember those breathing exercises that they said to do?"

"Breathing exercises aren't going to help me- Oh, God!"

For the first time in his life, sirens sounded like angels singing. The blue and red lights were circulating the entire street, and Wally opened the door, directing them to the apartment. "Quick, she's up here!"

* * *

"Maybe they'll name the kid Bartholomew again, like how dad did with me when I was born - he named me after my grandfather." Bart said, tapping his chin while he conversed with his two confused friends; Tim and Jaime.

"Is there even another nickname for Bartholomew?"

Tim grinned, mischief showing up in his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. Maybe he was hanging around with Dick too much? "We could always call it 'Mew', as in one if the original 151 Pokémon?"

"That's just stupid, dude." Jaime deadpanned.

Tim just shrugged in response. "Whatever, do you think she'll be okay? We've been waiting for a long time, so I'm kind of worried. Everyone is; I mean, look at Green Arrow, he looks like he's about to explode from waiting too long."

"Robin, don't exaggerate." Dick said, interrupting the younger boys conversation, Zatanna giggling quietly beside him. "He sees Artemis like his own daughter, so, he kind of has a right to act like that."

"Jeez, lighten up. A baby is coming, so stop scolding your little brother and smile!" the magician said, bringing her forefingers up to her boyfriend's face and forcing his lips to be in an up-turned manner. "Seriously, another baby! That's number three when it comes to the originals!"

* * *

"Family of Wally West and Artemis Crock here?" asked a doctor as he walked into the waiting room. He was immediately bombarded with questions, specifically from a woman in a wheelchair who had a scary look in her eyes. He could pick out Wally's parents immediately, the middle-aged couple who had inquiring looks on the slightly wrinkled and tired faces. Standing beside them were a younger couple nursing twins along with a boy with auburn hair, and a gleeful smile.

"Is Artemis okay? Has the baby been born yet? Do they have a name yet?" babbled the boy, and the doctor just looked confused.

"Uh..."

"Bart, relax. Let the man talk." instructed the lady, glaring down at the boy whose smile turned into a sheepish one. Maybe she was his mother?

The doctor cleared his throat, and clapped his hands together. "The procedure ran smoothly. After at least six hours of labour, we managed to deliver the baby without any further complications. Artemis is now resting with Wally, and they request the appearance of parents and Oliver and Dinah." A blonde man with a goatie and a young woman with long hair, who was standing next to the man, looked at each other in surprise before following Wally's parents, and the paraplegic woman (the blonde man decided to push her towards the room).

The doctor led them to the room where Artemis and Wally were waiting, his black dress shoes shuffling gently against the white floors of the hospital. When they finally stopped in front of a closed door, he indicated them to stay quiet before allowing them to step inside.

"Mom," Artemis greeted with a small smile while she nursed a bundle of blankets inside her arms. She looked extremely tired, her golden locks thrown haphazardly over her shoulder, with Wally sitting on the bed beside her while he cooed at the cradled baby. An extreme grin had graced his lips and his eyes were practically twinkling in excitement. The paraplegic woman was wheeled over to the other side of the bed by the blonde man.

She looked extremely proud. "She's gorgeous, Artemis." she stated, leaning over and stroking the soft skin of the tiny girl in her mother's arms. Tufts of strawberry blonde hair could be seen poking out of the warm blankets she was wrapped up in. "Congratulations, you two."

"I agree with you, Paula, she's absolutely adorable." the young woman said, moving to stand closer to the woman.

"We're proud of the both of you." Oliver said, ruffling Wally's head who just continued to glance at his fiancé and kissed her on cheek.

"She's made me the happiest man in the world. Thank you so much, beautiful."

* * *

Oliver couldn't accept the words he had heard earlier that day. It had happened a couple of hours ago, but he still could not believe it as he unlocked the golden handle to the interior of his mansion, Dinah following close behind him. her heels clacked against the white and black tiles in the entrance hall, before making her way up the grand staircase and to their bedroom.

"Oliver, are you coming?" she asked, noticing that he hadn't moved. The door was still wide open as well, but he still had the same look he had on his face when _those _words left Artemis' mouth.

_"Wally and I want you guys to be the godparents."_

His blue eyes changed the direction they were looking at him to gaze at the young woman who was making her way back towards him. "We're going to be the godparents... I just accepted the fact that I'm practically going to be grandfather at the age of thirty-seven, but now I'm gonna be a godfather as well?"

"Firstly, I'm to young to be classfied as a grandmother; I'm only twenty-nine." Dinah laughed, looping her arm through his and began to drag him upstairs. "But are you really that surprised? Artemis looks at you as her father."

"I thought they would have chosen Barry and Iris or some other people..."

"Just accept the fact that you're stuck in that position, grandpa." she replied, cheekily, and Ollie glared at her in return.

* * *

"Hello, baby, I am your Uncle Dick."

Wally was watching his best friend like a hawk as Dick held his daughter, gently bouncing her in his arms with a large smile on his face. Zatanna watched with a fond expression from her place beside Artemis who just laughed. "Careful, you're going to contaminate her with her with your silly brain."

"'Mis, my brain is amazing."

"Have you guys decided on a name?" her best friend asked from beside her. Megan looked like she was about to burst if she didn't get a turn at holding the little girl soon, practically leaning over the former Robin's shoulder to catch a glimpse of the baby. Conner and Kaldur were standing quietly as they leaned against the wall, with the Altantean holding his own son.

Amistad giggled, looking up at his father. Raquel glanced at her little boy and blew him a kiss.

Artemis glanced over at Wally, who decided to answer. "We've decided to keep the goddess tradition going and we've decided to name her Atlanta. Atalanta was a favourite of the goddess Artemis and was known for her running, so we decided to change the variation of her name and name her Atlanta. 'Lati' for short, though."

"Dick, let me hold Lati!" Megan complained, reaching to hold the baby but the black-haired man just laughed and almost pranced away like he would have done when he was thirteen.

"It's a nice name." Raquel stated, nodding her approval.

Suddenly, a familiar beeping sound began to ring through the hospital room and all eight occupants groaned at it. Dick sighed, handing Lati over to a squealing Megan who took a seat in the armchair beside Artemis' bed, as did Kaldur with Amistad to Raquel. "The boys will take it, we can stay here. You need a break from Wally, anyway." she laughed. Wally gasped dramatically, bringing his hands to cover his heart.

"You wound me, Megs."

"Go on, Flash-boy. I'll see you later." the blonde just smiled, leaning into him as he raced over and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Dick and Zatanna engaged in a short kiss, with Megan smiling sweetly at the exchange, letting out a loud "aw", and Conner just placed his lips on her cheek quickly.

"I'll be back soon." he whispered, and waved goodbye to the others as Dick, Conner and Kaldur followed.

* * *

"Who sent the alert?" Superboy asked, as they finally got to the Watchtower wearing their uniforms. All the members glanced at the four senior members of the Team. Batgirl jerked her thumb at the signal behind her, indicating that it had Captain Cold who had triggered the alert.

Aqualad quickly stepped forward to stand beside his second-in-command. "Apologies for the wait, everyone." he said maturely, bowing his head. "Has anyone sent word to the Flash?"

"He's on a League mission at the moment. Maybe dispatching a small squad would be the best idea for Captain Cold? And where's Miss Martian?"

"At the hosptial with Tigress, Zatanna and Rocket. Kid Flash and I know our way around Central, so we're in." Flash II said, grinning beneath his cowl while he sent a thumbs-up signal towards his cousin. He was excited to defeat one of the old criminals once again as it had been a while. His green eyes were twinkling once again beneath the lenses his cowl had inside it. When they were designing his new costume, he had requested that they leave the top of his cowl blank because he liked the feel of wind in his hair.

"Captain Boomerang just triggered another alert." Robin said, glancing at the holographic screen attached to his glove.

Aqualad nodded. "Okay, Flash, Kid Flash, Beast Boy and Superboy, I want you four to make your way towards Central City in order to defeat these two villains."

Batgirl grinned slyly at them. "Think you boys can handle it?"

"'Course we can!" Kid Flash shouted, throwing his fist into the air.

* * *

Beast Boy let out a yell as he was pinned to the wall with a blast of ice from Captain Cold's gun, with Superboy punching Captain Boomerang in the face as he threw a few of his weapons towards the young shapeshifter. Kid Flash quickly intercepted their path, before dropping them and joining the Flash as he began his tirade of running around Captain Cold to confuse him.

"Baby Flash, isn't it about time you thought of a new method?" the villain asked loudly with an annoyed huff as he continued to aim blasts of ice at the speedster. "And you've gotten faster, so it's not fair!"

"Why would I make up new methods when the traditional ones work?" the Flash asked, chuckling as he sped up.

Kid Flash sped up too, turning around to run in the opposite direction to unnerve the villain even further than he was earlier. "Are all the Central City villains this stupid?"

The second scarlet speester flashed a grin at his cousin. "Yep!"

Captain Cold finally stopped shooting, clutching his head from dizziness before he collapsed on the ground. "Urgh..."

The two heroes stopped running in time to watch Superboy slam his fist through the ice, allowing Beast Boy free. The changeling pouted unhappily as Superboy dragged Captain Boomerang over towards Captain Cold, and tied them together with Captain Boomerang's white scarf. "That was easy."

* * *

"Babe, I'm back!" Wally said as he pushed the door open. Artemis was asleep, her eyes closed in the direction of where their daughter was blinking, awake. The redheaded man smiled and walked over to Lati and gently picked her up to hold her. "Hey, gorgeous."

He raised his hand towards her tiny one, and the smile he had on only grew fonder when her fingers curled themselves around his forefinger as a reflex. She sniffled, letting out a small sound as she shifted slightly in her father's grasp. He sat down in the armchair, and continued to look down on her with a gentle expression.

He heard the sound of sheets moving, but didn't pay attention, still drinking in the fact that this was _his _daughter that he was holding, that _Artemis _was the mother of _his_ _child _and just how lucky he was. Only twenty-one, and he already had a gorgeous family.

"I love you so much, Lati, and I cannot wait until I get to see you grow up. I already know that you're going to be as amazing as your mother, but please try and not to be as difficult as she can be sometimes; it'll make my life a whole lot more easier."

"Wally," Artemis called, her voice husky. He looked up, unsurprised at the sound of her voice. "You're back." Her tonne was almost relieved, as though unsure he was going to make it back to her.

He nodded at her, smiling.

"Bruce came to visit while you were out. Apparently, he bought us a new place. We have a maid to help us out with everything, and we're still located in Palo Alto because of college, but I told him it might take a couple of months." she began to explain. Bruce Wayne had been extremely generous, especially since the return of Wally and how Dick almost hit rock bottom after the disappearance of his best friend. "We can stay at our apartment until then, though."

Wally raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He's really up to doing that for us?" he asked, glancing down at Lati.

She nodded, patting the spot beside her. He slowly stood up, balancing his daughter in his arms and walking over to the woman he loved. "Go back to sleep, beautiful. I'll see you tomorrow." he said, grinning at her when she pressed a kiss to his cheek, and whispered the sacred three words against his skin and then leaned over to put her lips on her daughter's forehead.

"Goodnight, you guys." she replied, curling her blanket more around her form.

* * *

Having a baby around the apartment had been difficult getting used too. Stanford had been fantastic with the new addition to their family, offering services to help out and even cutting them a bit of slack when it came to classes and work too. Wally had even begun to look for a job somewhere to help save some money for their future. Their parents and friends had been really supportive.

Zatanna absolutely adored Lati, and would often come to their apartment to babysit the baby while Artemis and Wally had lectures to go too or work. Social gatherings for the young couple had slowed too, hardly ever going out anymore (they only went to the college parties when they were fully convinced but even then, they were reluctant to leave their child) and when a mission would come up for the Team, only sometimes would they go along.

With Lati at home now, it was hard. They hardly ever slept.

Artemis groaned in frustration one night when her daughter woke up screaming, glancing almost mournfully at her fiancé who just continued to snooze soundly. With a sigh, she stood up and walked down the hall to Lati's bedroom and opened the door, where the cries practically pierced her ears even further.

"Hey, what's wrong, love?" she asked quietly, picking her up and carrying her over to the change table. She switched the lamp on beside it and worked through the process of checking her nappy. but apparently there was nothing. She then tried breastfeeding her next but Lati wouldn't take it, and rocking her back to sleep but nothing would work. "Oh my gosh, Lati, please stop crying!"

The girl had been placed in her cot, with the white bars up and her face looked extremely uncomfortable as she continued to yell at the top of her lungs.

"Artemis?" asked Wally's tired voice from the doorway. He was rubbing his eyes, and Artemis had a hard time keeping her eyes off his abs as he stood there shirtless. "What's wrong, babe?"

"She won't stop crying, and I don't know what's wrong!"

He walked over and kissed her shoulder before picking up his daughter and gently placing on his shoulder, patting her back until she let out a burp, and a surprisingly loud fart. "Now she might need a diaper change..."

The blonde woman's mouth fell open at the sight. "How did you know what was wrong?"

"She looked uncomfortable." he answered, before changing the nappy and replacing it with a clean one. He applied the sticky straps and then fixed up the purple jumpsuit she was wearing, and after that, placed her in her cot again.

"I'm such a bad mother-"

"Artemis, do not say that again, alright? You are a great mother, and don't say otherwise."

She sighed, and nodded. "Okay."

"Good, now come back to bed, beautiful."

* * *

Lati's first birthday couldn't have come fast enough. They had decided to hold it at the Queen estate, courtesy of Oliver who had offered to hold it there for his 'granddaughter'. Majority of the ballroom had been decorated with red and yellow streamers to continue the tradition of Kid Flash colours (to the amusement of Barry and Iris), with a large pile of presents against one wall and tables upon tables of food lined against one wall (they had assigned one each to Wally and Barry alone, to which Lati had to eat from too because she was starting to build up her own appetite).

The strawberry-blonde haired girl was sitting in her godmother's lap, waving at her mother on the opposite side of the room as Lian walked up to her younger cousin and began to gently pat her on the arm to gain her attention. Jade nudged her sister at the exchange.

"They'll be close when they're older. Hopefully, they will stay close." she said with a smile. "I'm so proud of you, little sis."

"Thanks, Jade." Artemis replied, pulling the girl in for a hug.

Wally called her over where Oliver was standing at the table with a cake, a spoon in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, tapping the glass in order to gain all the attention of the guests over at the large mansion. "Attention everyone, we've got a couple of speeches from the parents."

The speedster grinned, and placed an arm around his now-wife, who instinctively leaned into him. "Well, firstly we'd like to thank everyone for coming to Lati's first birthday party, and for being a huge part of her life so far. She really has grown from that little bundle I held a whole year ago, and it's been a huge rollercoaster, but the time has just gone by so fast. I want to thank my wife for actually giving me the chance to actually be a father, and for putting up with me for this long."

"It's about your daughter, not about you!" Dick cackled from the front, making the whole room laugh.

"Shut up, Dick!"

"Sorry to interrupt your latest bromantic moment, but let's continue with this speech." Artemis said with a roll of her eyes, bumping Wally's hip with her own to push him out of the way. "Anyway, first I'd like to say thanks to my mom, Mary, Rudy, Dinah and Ollie for being absolutely amazing to your grandchild, to the Bats for being there to help bring him back, to everyone for being part of our lives and contributing to Lati's as well in order to help mold her into the beautiful young lady I know she'll become, and to the original nine; Conner, Dick, Zatanna, M'gann, Raquel, Kaldur, and Roy for being absolutely amazing people. Lati and I are so blessed to have you in our lives. And of course, to my husband for being the wonderful man that you are-" he laughed, and kissed her cheek in response. "-and thank you for coming today to celebrate this day with us. Hope you're having a wonderful time!"

Wally then began to pull her away and into another room, leaving the social event for the moment, much to her protests. "You know what we haven't done in a while?" he said, gesturing to the cupboard behind him.

"We're not in high school anymore, Wally." Artemis said, clearly unimpressed, folding her arms.

"C'mon, beautiful, just this once?"

"Alright, but not for too long!" she replied, pulling him inside and allowing him to push her against the wall while his lips molded with hers, slamming the door behind them.

It wasn't long until Dick and Zatanna found them, the trolls, but apparently they had been missing for about ten minutes much to the despair of their daughter who had been calling out for them. They then had a stern lecture from Paula, Mary and Shayera while Artemis tried to calm her daughter down as well.

Well, that hadn't been awkward at all.

Not at all.

Note the sarcasm?

* * *

**A/N: Oh, god, the ending was horrible and disgusting. I hate this chapter so much. I was hoping to make it more... -nice?- I guess, but not like that. The last two bits were last minute. I finally figured out the godparents, and I didn't realise that they would have such a little part at the end of the story. :\**

**I can't believe it's over. Oh, well. :( That's sad. I don't know what to write about now. **

**To absolutely everybody who has followed, favourited and reviewed Heartstrings, you guys are to thank for this. You've kept me going with the support, so thank you. :D And to the silent readers. :) Thank you for even looking at it. I never realised it would get this much positive feedback. **

**To Beautiful-Dark, I hope you liked it all. :) I'm sorry if it's been a disappointment.**

**Um... I don't know what else to say. D:**

**Word Count: 4,261**

**I love you all! :D**

**~CL**


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